Thursday, June 6

The Purge Review

The Purge

Dir: James DeMonaco

Starring: Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, and Edwin Hodge

The Purge delivers
an intriguing and provoking synopsis. For 12 hours all crime in America,
including murder, is legal. It’s a loaded concept that could be explored from
numerous angles, social commentary lending heftily as a major thematic vehicle.
Though initial imagery introduces a film ripe with potential, the
outcome is unfortunately an unfocused thriller that undermines sensible logic and utilizes repetitive
horror clichés in an attempt to promote scares.

The Sandin Family lives in an upper crust community. James (Ethan
Hawke), the head of the household, is a home security salesman having provided
the bulk of the neighborhood with their fortifying systems. The annual Purge is
mere hours from starting. The Sandin family converse about their day around the
dinner table, with defying angst from teenage Zoey (Adelaide Kane) and moral
questioning from young Charlie (Max Burkholder) holding the focus of the discussion. James and his wife Mary (Lena
Headey) try confusingly to explain the positive implications of the 12-hour
indulgence. As horns siren the beginning of the event, young Charlie is
confounded and intrigued by the video monitoring system watching his sanctuary,
until an African-American man calls for help amidst the empty neighborhood. Charlie
opens his home to the pleading man, thus allowing the voracious group of masked
hunters opportunity to surround the Sandin house threatening entry.

There are moments when The
Purge begins to explore absorbing territory concerning social structure, it’s
nonetheless short lived and never fully realized. Society, in this future, has
found necessity in allowing chaos to reign for a short time, though the ethical
and sociopolitical implications of this kind of extravagance are only hinted at
and never taken into full account. The concerning question of a nations
leaders allowing its people to partake in this illogical behavior are played
out as merely background fodder on radio and television news reports. Turning
off the lights for 12 hours, once a year, would yield terror beyond
comprehension. And, when the lights turn back on, what would be left of a society that
must coexist with neighbors, friends, and relatives that came knocking on your
door on purge night? Paranoia alone would consume. Understandably, the viewer
is meant to take leaps of logic for 85 minutes while the narrative unfolds into
a contrived game of murderous cat and mouse, jump scares, and inexplicable
character decisions. Though the tension is well maintained during these violent
sequences, a diverging narrative leading towards a twist ending undermines the
apprehensive atmosphere.

Ethan Hawke seems to have played this character before,
though he is good at conveying the sentiments of his somewhat heroic role. Lena
Headey, also playing a familiar role, gives her underutilized character life.
The best performance comes from the grinning menace of the roving pact
ringleader, played by Rhys Wakefield. His polite, demanding presence offers the
miniscule hint of horror in a film that is scarce on scares.

The Purge establishes
an interesting premise with its foreboding introduction, though the remaining
outcome boils the scarier implications of a world in chaos down to a simplistic
home invasion thriller. While the French film Them and America’s The
Strangers provide examples of how the unexplained threat of forces outside
change the dynamic of those protected inside, The Purge misses the opportunity to explore more than the usual.